Nail Clipper

ABSTRACT

A nail clipper includes a cutting jaw with a tongue as a mechanism to prevent nail clippings from flying away and a cutting board with a safety guide as a safety mechanism to prevent accidental cuts into finger/toe flesh. The tooth edge of the cutting tooth and the cutting board may either be both vertically curved with a matching curvature to better fit the curvature of the naturally curved nails or be both straight (as opposed to curved). A variation of the nail clipper has the cutting board being replaced with another identical cutting jaw with a tongue to just make use of the tongues for grabbing nail clippings.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

A nail clipper of the current type with opposing cutting teeth lacks asafety mechanism to prevent accidental cuts into finger/toe flesh and italso lacks a mechanism to prevent nail clippings (the part of a nailthat gets clipped off) from flying away. Because of lack of a safetymechanism, one has to be extremely careful and watch out closely whenone is cutting finger/toe nails with a nail clipper of the current type,especially when parents are cutting finger/toe nails of their youngkids. It can also be a challenge for people who can not bend easily, forexample, senior people, to cut their toe nails with a nail clipper ofthe current type. A nail clipper of the present invention will solvesuch issues.

BRIEF SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

A nail clipper of the present invention has both a safety mechanism toprevent accidental cuts into finger/toe flesh and a mechanism to preventnail clippings from flying away. The said clipper includes a cutting jawwith a tongue and a cutting board with a safety guide, in addition toother parts (either essential or optional) present in a nail clipper ofthe current type, for example, a nail file. The tooth edge and thecutting board of the said clipper may be flat (as opposed to curved) ormay be vertically curved with a matching curvature to better fit thecurvature of naturally curved nails. The said clipper will make it notjust safe, but also easier and convenient for people to cut nails. Avariation of the said clipper has the cutting board replaced with anidentical cutting jaw with a tongue to make use of the tongues forgrabbing nail clippings.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 shows a longitudinal section view of a nail clipper of thepresent invention with a jaw, a tongue and a cutting board;

FIG. 2 shows a top-down view of a cutting board of a nail clipper of thepresent invention;

FIG. 3 shows a front portion of a longitudinal section view of a nailclipper of the present invention with a nail clipping being held at thecutting board by a tongue;

FIG. 4A shows a front portion of a longitudinal section view of avariation of a cutting board of a nail clipper of the present inventionwith a groove at the cutting site;

FIG. 4B shows a front portion of a longitudinal section view of avariation of a cutting board of a nail clipper of the present inventionwith a groove at the cutting site that contains a tiny tooth;

FIG. 4C shows a front portion of a longitudinal section view of avariation of a cutting board of a nail clipper of the present inventionwith a tiny tooth at the cutting site;

FIG. 5 shows a front portion of a longitudinal section view of a nailclipper of the present invention showing the edge of the cutting toothsinking into a groove of a cutting board without touching the groove'sbottom;

FIG. 6A shows a front prospective view of a variation of a nail clipperof the present invention showing a vertically curved tooth edge and avertically curved cutting board;

FIG. 6B shows a front prospective view of one variation of a nailclipper of the present invention showing a conventional (verticallyun-curved) tooth edge and a flat cutting board; and

FIG. 7 shows a longitudinal section view of a nail clipper comprisingtwo jaws with tongues of the present invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

Various features of the present invention are illustrated in thefollowing detailed description and accompanying drawings. It is to beunderstood that, if not explicitly specified, the term nail refers toboth a finger nail and a toe nail. Also parts irrelevant to the presentinvention, or of prior arts, may be shown in dashed lines or omitted alltogether in the drawings if they can be readily inferred from commonsense or experiences by people with adequate manufacturing or craftingskills.

FIG. 1 shows a longitudinal section view of a nail clipper of thepresent invention. The said clipper includes a cutting jaw 1, a tongue 3and a cutting board 5. The cutting jaw 1 has a cutting tooth 2. Thetongue 3 is attached (via whatever means deemed appropriate) under thecutting jaw 1 and the tip edge of the tongue 3 is flushed with (andcontoured along if the tooth edge 4 is curved) the inside of the cuttingtooth 2 and aligned behind the tooth edge 4 at the same vertical levelor slightly lower. The tongue 3 is elastic with a proper spring constantand, upon an upward push at the tip, will bend upward with a downwardresistance force at the tip. The downward resistance force will producea downward pressing force (see 10 in FIG. 3) at the tip of the tongue 3.The downward pressing force at the tip of the tongue 3 will cause thetip to hold a nail clipping (see 12 in FIG. 3) at the cutting board 5(will be described in more details hereinafter). The clamping mechanism0 and how the cutting jaw 1 and the cutting board 5 of a clipper join orare assembled (in dashed lines) are shown only as an example and can beimplemented with any means currently in use. In fact the cutting jaw 1and the cutting boarder 5 may be made of a continuous piece with a V orU or Y shaped fold at the rear. When being clamped down (as during theaction of nail clipping), the tooth edge 4 will trace the path 8 andcome to contact with the cutting board 5 at the site 7. While thecutting board 5, when inserted into the groove under a nail, willseparate the nail from the fresh (as shown in FIG. 3) and shield thefresh from the tooth edge 4 to prevent the tooth edge 4 from cuttinginto the fresh, the part 6 (termed as a safety guide hereinafter)between the site 7 and the tip of the cutting board 5 will act as asafety guide and provide extra safety. The safety guide 6 will alsoprovide a mechanism to achieve consistency of clipping results. Whilethe materials of a nail clipper of the present invention can be allmetal, as in the case of a nail clipper of the current type (except forsomething non-functional or non-essential, such as a plastic cover onthe clamping lever for decoration purpose), other materials, such asspecial plastics, if deemed appropriate, may be used for some parts of anail clipper of the present invention, for example, the tongue 3 and/orthe cutting board 5 as long as the materials possess desired propertiessuch as strength, durability and/or flexibility. Also if desired, a nailfile, as in some nail clippers of current type, may be included (notshown).

FIG. 2 shows a top-down view of the cutting board 5 of a nail clipper ofthe present invention and illustrates possible/optional safety guides 9at the sides of the front region of the cutting board 5. The cuttingsite 7 is where the tooth edge 4 of a curved cutting tooth 2 come intocontact with the cutting board 5 when clamped down and hence is shown asa curved line. Needless to say that the front edge of the cutting board5 and the line of the cutting site 7 will be straight for a straightcutting tooth 2 (not shown). If present, the safety guides 9 may givesome extra protection against accidental cuts of finger/toe flesh. Againthe part in dashed line is only to show a possible example of theoverall shape of the cutting board 5. Many variant embodiments arepossible and can be easily achieved.

FIG. 3 shows a front portion of a longitudinal section view of a nailclipper of the present invention with a nail being clipped. When the jaw1 clamps down onto the cutting board 5 during the action of nailclipping, a nail clipping 12 will push the tip of the tongue 3 upward,which will produce a downward pressing force 10 at the tip of the tongue3 and cause the tip of the tongue 3 to press the nail clipping 12against the cutting board 5 and hold the nail clipping 12 there. Thebottom surface of the tip of the tongue 3 may be made rough (e.g. with agrid of tiny engravings) to increase the friction between the tip of thetongue 3 and the nail clipping 12. As shown in FIG. 3, the cutting board5 with the safety guide 6 will create a physical barrier between thecutting tooth 2 and the fresh of a finger 11 or of a toe (not shown)that shields the finger or toe fresh from being cut, thus making a nailclipper of the present invention both safe and convenient for cuttingnails: one just needs to insert the cutting board 5 under a nail to becut till the edge of the safety guide 6 reaches the end of the groovebetween the nail and fresh of a finger or a toe and makes the cutwithout having to watch out very closely where the nail clipper ispositioned. Also with the safety guide 6, a nail clipper of the presentinvention will have a user a consistency of clipping results in term ofnail lengths. Nail clippers of the present invention can be made to havethe safety guide 6 in different lengths to meet different needs ofdifferent users with respect to desired nail lengths. For example, someusers may like to cut nails short and they can choose a nail clipper ofthe present invention with a short safety guide 6 while others who liketo have longer nails can choose a nail clipper of the present inventionwith a longer safety guide 6.

FIG. 4 shows front portions of longitudinal section views of the cuttingboard 5 of the present invention and illustrates some variations at thecutting site 7. While our daily life experiences tell us that a flat orlevel surface at the cutting site 7 on the cutting board 5 will beeffective for cutting nails (for example, in the kitchen, we usuallychop things with a knife against a flat cutting board), some variationsmay also be effective or have some advantages. FIG. 4A shows a groove 13on the top surface of the cutting board 5 into which the edge 4 of thecutting tooth 2 will sink when the jaw 1 is clamped down onto thecutting board 5. The groove 13 needs not be V shaped and can be in anyother shapes, such as U shaped. FIG. 4B shows a groove with a tiny tooth14 on the top surface of the cutting board 5. The groove with a tinytooth 14 can be taken as being made of two touching grooves and,depending on the distance between and/or the shapes of the two grooves,the edge of the tiny tooth of the groove with a tiny tooth 14 may beeither at the same level of or below the top surface of the cuttingboard 5. FIG. 4C shows a tiny tooth 15 that sticks out the top surfaceof the cutting board 5. Needless to say that to make the variationsuseful, any embodiments will have to make sure that the tooth edge 4 isaligned in such a way that the tooth edge 4 will sink into the groove 13or abut the edge of the tiny tooth of the groove with a tiny tooth 14 orthe edge of the tiny tooth 15 when the cutting jaw 1 is clamped down tothe cutting board 5. For variation 15, the tip of the tongue 3 may beadjusted to be slightly below the tooth edge 4 of the cutting tooth 2 totake in the consideration of the height of the tiny tooth 15 so therewill still be enough downward pressing force at the tip of the tongue 3to hold nail clippings against the cutting board 5 when the tooth edge 4and the edge of the tiny tooth 15 abut each other.

While a cutting board 5 without variations like those shown in FIG. 4may be easier and less costly to manufacture, some variations may haveadvantages in some other aspects. For example, as shown in FIG. 5, thegroove 13 can be made in such a way that when the cutting tooth 2 sinksinto it, the tooth edge 4 will not touch the bottom of the groove 13.This will reduce the wear of the tooth edge 4 and preserve its sharpnesslonger.

FIG. 6 shows front views of two variations of a nail clipper of thepresent invention. FIG. 6A illustrates a variation whereas the toothedge 4 of the cutting tooth 2 and the cutting board 5 are verticallycurved to better fit the curvature of curved nails. The curved toothedge 4 of the cutting tooth 2 and the curved cutting board 5 have anidentical curvature and fit each other when in contact. FIG. 6Billustrates a conventional, flat cutting board 5 and its matchingcutting tooth 2 with a fitting tooth edge 4. The cutting site 7 wherethe tooth edge 4 of the cutting tooth 2 meets the cutting board 5 duringnail clipping may be replaced with variations 13, 14, or 15 shown inFIG. 4.

FIG. 7 shows a variation of a nail clipper of the present invention.Like a nail clipper of the current type (prior art), this variation hastwo cutting jaws 1, but each jaw 1 has a tongue 3. Having a tongue 3under each cutting jaw 1 gives a nail clipper of this variation of thepresent invention an advantage over a nail clipper of the current typein that the pair of tongues 3 will grab nail clippings during the actionof nail clipping. The clamping mechanism is omitted from the drawing andcan be any thing currently in use.

While the present invention has been described in detail, the presentinvention is not limited to the illustrated examples, but can bemodified and carried out in various aspects. The scope of the presentinvention encompasses numerous alternatives, modifications andequivalent and it is to be understood that the exact shape/dimension orform/style of a nail clipper of the present invention may vary. Forexample, a manufacturer may make nail clippers of the present inventionin one size for finger nails and in another size for toe nails. Also amanufacturer may make clippers of the present invention with variouslengths of the safety guide 6 and sell them either individually or in aset. Some embodiments detail may be omitted where it is obvious toand/or can be readily derived from common sense by an ordinary personwith normal intelligence. For example, with a clamping mechanism 0 usedby the current nail clippers with opposing teeth that has a pin passingthrough a hole in each of the two jaws, a hole is implied (and can bereadily inferred) to be present in the jaw 1, in the tongue 3, and inthe board 5 of a nail clipper of the present invention to accommodatethe pin.

What is claimed is:
 1. A nail clipper comprising: having a cutting jaw 1with a tongue 3 that prevents nail clippings from flying away; having acutting board 5 with a safety guide 6 and optional safety guides 9 thatshields finger/toe fresh from the cutting jaw 1 and prevents saidclipper from accidental cuts into finger/toe flesh.
 2. A cutting jaw 1according to claim 1, wherein said jaw 1 has a tongue 3 attached thatwill grab nail clippings by holding them against a cutting board 5 or atongue 3 of the opposite cutting jaw
 1. 3. A tongue 3 according toclaims 1 and 2, wherein said tongue 3 is attached to the cutting jaw 1and will prevent nail clippings from flying away by holding them againstthe cutting board 5 or another tongue 3 of the opposite cutting jaw 1.4. A cutting board 5 according to claim 1, wherein said cutting board 5has a safety guide 6 at front and optional safety guides 8 on sides, andwhen inserted into the groove between the nail and fresh of a finger ortoe during nail cutting, said cutting board 5 shields the finger/toefresh from the cutting jaw 1 and prevents said clipper from accidentalcuts into the finger/toe flesh.
 5. A safety guide 6 according to claim4, wherein said safety guide 6 is an extension from the cutting line (7,13, 14, 15) where the cutting tooth 2 touches the cutting board 5 whenclamped and can prevent accidental cuts into finger/toe flesh. Theextension 6 can be made in various lengths to meet various needs fornail length.
 6. A cutting board 5 according to claim 1, wherein there isa groove 13 at the line where the tooth 2 touches the cutting board 5.7. A cutting board 5 according to claim 1, wherein there is a groovewith a tiny tooth 14 at the line where the edge 4 of the cutting tooth 2touches the cutting board
 5. 8. A cutting board 5 according to claim 1,wherein there is a tiny tooth 15 at the line where the edge 4 of thecutting tooth 2 touches the cutting board
 5. 9. A cutting board 5according to claim 1, wherein the cutting board 5 is vertically curveddownward, with a matching curved tooth edge 4 of the cutting tooth 2,(FIG. 6A), to more or less fit the curvature of a cross section of anail.
 10. A cutting board according to claim 1, wherein the top surfaceof the cutting board 5 is flat with a matching straight tooth edge 4 ofthe cutting tooth 2 (FIG. 6B).